find_bruce wrote:The only downside is that, like all such laws, it only works after the person has already been injured or killed.

Xplora wrote:Well, it does create a serious deterrant. REALLY serious deterrant; because the value in police and legal pursuit goes up immensely when the penalty warrants it. Our mate Hull wouldn't have risked his family's livelihood by going to prison over his incident. Only a complete fool does things that could result in jail time.

You would think so, but the research by criminologists suggests that the biggest deterrant is the PERCEIVED risk of being caught, which is one of the reasons why I like cyclists carrying cameras, reporting incidents to the police and or the drivers employer & posting them on you tube - it significantly increases the perceived risk of being caught..

The bit that constantly amazes me is that it doesn't appear to occur to some drivers that hitting a pedestrian or cyclist with a 2 tonne metal box might injure that person